Following a nod from the state cabinet sub-committee of infrastructure, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) Sunday invited pre-qualification from companies interested in constructing the Bandra-Versova sea link, a northwards extension to the Bandra-Worli sea link.

MSRDC will conduct a pre-bid conference for potential bidders on March 28, while the last date for the submission of technical bids will be May 30. MSRDC has, for now, decided to open technical bids on May 31, as per the tender notice. The Bandra-Versova sea link will be constructed on public-private partnership at a cost of Rs 5,975 crore, as per the notice.

The project, which received environmental clearance in 2012, has suffered considerable delay. MSRDC had submitted a proposal to the state government for approval soon after the sea link received the environmental clearance. However, the CM-led cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure took it up for discussion only in February this year.

Without any viability gap funding, which refers to the state’s financial contribution in a PPP project, the MSRDC has estimated the concession period to be 35 years. However, after some members of the infrastructure sub-committee expressed reservations about the concession period being too long, the corporation has decided to seek 20 per cent funding from the Union government. This, the MSRDC expects, will bring down the concession period to about 28 to 30 years.